Digital Media, Technology, Business and Life in Victoria, British Columbia

My Lifestyle Makeover, Part 2

Most men with weight issues don’t talk about it. Except, perhaps, with a jovial pat on the back and a jolly belly laugh.

Facts are: diabetes runs in my family, I’m genetically predisposed to being overweight, and I’ve been obese most of my adult life. Where they don’t die of cancer first, my predecessors die of heart disease. None of this is really very funny.

Unlike many people, I never did the “roller coaster” of diets. In fact, I never really “dieted” at all, nor particularly cared to, until a few years ago.

At well over 350 pounds, I decided to finally do something about it. And I did. I started eating right. I exercised. I learned a thing or two about nutrition. I attended Weight Watchers meetings, too. All told, I lost about 120 pounds and felt great. Better still, I maintained great physical fitness for well over a year – not just “great”, but the best in my entire life. I’d like to tell you it was easy, but it wasn’t. It was bloody hard. And I fought myself every single day to stay focused and not go off track.

Anyway, here I am a few years later, after a few “life things” went sideways. I find myself pretty close to 350 pounds again (the scale says “Error” when I step on it, so I don’t really know how much).

Now I’ve decided that enough is enough. I’ve just turned 40, and I’d sure like to see 50.

Reflecting on my experience to date, I asked myself what was missing on the “first leg” of my “roller coaster”, because I’d really like to make this a “short ride.” (Too many metaphors?)

It’s become apparent that my predispositions are overwhelming, and when my will power isn’t at 100%, I lose the battle against myself. For those who have tried losing weight, you probably know exactly what I mean.

It’s on this basis, that I started doing some research. For those of you who have ever researched diets, you’ll know there are thousands out there, and most of it is bunk. It’s very hard to sort through it all, but here’s the tools I decided I needed to stack the battlefield for my side:

A way of managing my hunger and cravings.

Energy (to get up and do what I need to do).

Mental clarity. (Too many “carb comas.”)

In my research, I contacted a homeopath friend of mine. She has been on a plan that worked really great for her and her husband. She was very excited about it, told me all about it, and it sounded like something that would address my key concerns (the list above).

Anyway, I just started phase 1 (actually phase 0.1, which deals with the three things above specifically). A week in, and I’m already feeling great (hell, I had the energy to finally post something on my blog again). I’ll be posting my progress here for anyone who’d like to follow along and keep me accountable.

Now, as most of my friends know, I’m pretty sceptical of most things (especially diet plans and politicians). So, at the moment, I’m not going to publicly say what that plan is (first, I want to make sure it’s working). But I’m happy to share the information privately with people who are interested, and will “come out” soon with more details.